Melanj the Great Wurm and Wurmlings – Sandworms of Arakis, the Spice Melange, and the Graboid from Tremors
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Wurmling
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Wurmling_Guardian
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Melanj
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Quest:Trial_of_the_Sand_Wurms
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Quest:Cavern_of_the_Wurm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(franchise)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandworm_(Dune)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melange_(fictional_drug)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremors_(1990_film)
Pol Atraydies has been out in the dunes of the Caterwaul Canyons collecting Wurmling scales. He asks your wizard for assistance in finishing that task. Once done, Pol decides to solidify his claim of lordship over House Tabbi by defeating Melanj the Great Sand Wurm
Melanj has inhabited the caverns of Caterwaul Canyons for centuries. She is attracted to sonic vibrations. It is up to your wizard to activate the sonic thumpers to attract her to the fight.
Dune, also known as the Dune Chronicles, is an American science fiction media franchise that originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert and has continued to add new publications. Dune is frequently described as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. It won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Hugo Award in 1966, and was later adapted into a 1984 film, a 2000 television miniseries, and a 2021 film. Herbert wrote five sequels, the first two of which were concomitantly adapted as a 2003 miniseries. Dune has also inspired tabletop games and a series of video games.
The Dune saga is set thousands of years in humanity’s future. Faster-than-light travel has been developed, and humans have colonized a vast number of worlds. However, a great reaction against computers has resulted in a ban on any kind of “thinking machine”, with the creation or possession of such punishable by immediate death. Despite this prohibition, humanity continues to develop and advance other branches of technology, including ESP and instruments of war. At the time of the first book’s setting, humanity has formed a feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, run by several Great Houses that oversee various planets. Of key interest is the planet Arrakis, known as “Dune”. A desert planet with nearly no precipitation, it is the only planet where a special life-extending drug, melange or “the spice”, can be found. In addition to life extension, melange enhances the mental capacity of humans: it allows for the mutated Spacing Guild pilots to navigate folded space and travel the distances between planets; and triggers some of the powers of the Bene Gesserit, a religious group that secretly seeks to control the direction humanity takes. Melange is difficult to acquire, not only due to the harsh environment of Arrakis, but also the presence of giant sandworms that are drawn towards any rhythmic sounds on the sands of the desert. Control of Arrakis, its spice production, and the impact on humanity’s development become the centerpoints of a millennia-long conflict that develops through the series.
A sandworm is a fictional extraterrestrial creature that appears in the Dune novels written by Frank Herbert, first introduced in Dune (1965).
Sandworms are colossal, worm-like creatures that live on the desert planet Arrakis. The sandworms’ larvae produce a drug called melange (known colloquially as “the spice”), the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe because it makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. Melange deposits are found in the sand seas of Arrakis, where the sandworms live and hunt, and harvesting the spice from the sand is a dangerous activity because sandworms are aggressive and territorial. Harvesting vehicles must be airlifted in and out of the sand sea in order to evade sandworm attacks. The struggle over the production and supply of melange is a central theme of the Dune saga.
Sandworms are attracted to rhythmic vibrations in the sand, which they mistake for prey (smaller sandworms). To escape the notice of the sandworms, a traveller in the desert must learn to “walk without rhythm” in a manner that simulates the natural sounds of the desert.
Melange, often referred to as “the spice”, is the fictional psychedelic drug central to the Dune series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert and derivative works.
In the series, the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe is melange, a drug that gives the user a longer life span, greater vitality, and heightened awareness. In some humans, the spice can also unlock prescience, a form of precognition based in genetics but made possible by use of the drug in larger dosages. Among other functions, prescience makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. However, melange is also highly addictive, and withdrawal is fatal. Harvesting melange is also hazardous in the extreme, as its only known source is the harsh desert planet Arrakis, and melange deposits are guarded by giant sandworms.
{Addendum 12/14/2023} Many, many people have told me via Facebook and Twitter that I got this one wrong. That Melanj is a reference to Tremors, the 1990 Kevin Bacon film.
I have never seen that film. After looking into it, I can see where Melanj’s design may have been influenced from the Graboid. So I stand corrected.
Tremors is a 1990 American monster comedy horror film directed by Ron Underwood, produced by Brent Maddock and S. S. Wilson, written by Maddock, Wilson, and Underwood and starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire.
The current list of all the (known) Mirage references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Melanj and Wurmling images are from Wizard101, and are copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment
Sandworm illustration is from Analog Magazine January 1965 and is copyright Analog Magazine
Sandworm and Melange images are copyright Universal Pictures
All Tremors images are copyright Universal Pictures
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
Vulcan Stev's Database 